1. Israel Folau Is Set for a Big Year

In his first season of Test rugby last year, Israel Folau looked like he had been playing the sport all his life.

The scary thing was that, with just one year under his belt, there was always going to be room for improvement in the former Aussie Rules and Rugby League man’s game.

The flames of that theory have not so much been fanned as had a can of fuel thrown on them by his first outing in Super Rugby this year.

The Wallaby full-back scored a hat-trick in the Waratahs’ 43-21 win over the Western Force, prompting coach Michael Cheika to tell AAP, as reported on ESPN Scrum:

It's not a coincidence that he ends up in the right place at the right time. It's the quality of player to read the game as well as make his impacts and it's a good start for him. And really nice for the crowd to see him enjoy himself when he scores a try. That's what we want to see; that's what we want to have in the game.

2. South Africa Has Found Another Big Boot

Marnitz Boshoff contributed 29 of the Lions’ 34 points in their Round 2 win over the Stormers.

That followed six penalties and a last-minute drop goal that shocked the Cheetahs the previous weekend.

The 25-year old drew reluctant praise from Stormers coach Allister Coetzee after the match for his three long-range drop goals that helped down the Cape Town franchise.

“There is nothing much you can do about a guy that stands 50 metres back and slots the drop goals," he said on the Super XV site.

Despite these massive points hauls, SA Rugby Magazine’s Jon Cardinelli is not predicting a Springbok call-up any time soon for the Super Rugby newcomer:

The Lions will not win Super Rugby in 2014, and it’s unlikely that Boshoff will receive a Bok call-up. But these two performances will not have gone unnoticed, and I'm sure there are others—like coaches at the big three South African franchises—who will acknowledge that this guy is the real deal.

5. Bulls in Bother

Two defeats from two games, the loss of the inspirational Pierre Spies and a battering from the press.

It has been a beginning from hell for the Bulls of Pretoria.

If the South African franchise were wondering what the media made of their second-round defeat to the Cheetahs, they need have looked no further than Vata Ngobeni’s piece in The Star which described them as "heartless and lacking imagination."

Now with Spies sidelined by an arm injury, it has been a bleak start for the three-time winners and last season’s runners-up.